1. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to a bamboo scrimber and a manufacturing method thereof and more specifically to a bamboo scrimber including a plurality of pressure-pressed bamboo strips impregnated with an adhesive and modified through heat-treatment and a method of manufacturing such bamboo scrimber.
2. Description of Related Art
A bamboo scrimber (generally also referred to as “strand woven bamboo” or “recombined bamboo” in the art) is generally made by cutting bamboo into bamboo tubes, splitting the bamboo tubes, forming the split bamboo into bamboo strips (also referred to as “bamboo sliver”) or strands (also referred to as “bamboo filament”), drying the bamboo strands or strips, dipping the bamboo strands or strips into an adhesive, assembling the adhesive-impregnated bamboo strands or strips in a longitudinal direction, and hot-pressing the assembled bamboo strands or strips. And, the bamboo scrimber has a high density and a high strength so that the bamboo scrimber has been widely used in recent years.
In a conventional method, the bamboo is manufactured into bamboo strands. Then, the bamboo strands are dried, dipped into an adhesive, placed into a mold, and high-pressure-pressed and cured to form a bamboo product. However, it is required to manufacture the bamboo into strands so that the process is complex, and time and labor consumption and cost thereof are high.
In another conventional method, the bamboo is manufactured into bamboo strips, and the bamboo strips are dried, dipped into an adhesive, placed into a mold, and high-pressure-pressed and cured to form a bamboo product. However, because the bamboo strips have large thickness and width and high rigidity, when arranging the bamboo strips, bridging between the bamboo strips may not be avoided so that the bamboo strips may not contact with each other sufficiently and be softened during pressing. Therefore, the density of the bamboo product is not uniform, and the surfaces of the bamboo product are rough.
Whether using the bamboo strands or the bamboo strips to form the bamboo scrimber, the bamboo strips and strands are not modified. It is well known that, similar to wood, the bamboo is a porous biomass material and has dry-shrinkage and wet-swelling properties. When the temperature and humidity change, the size of the bamboo scrimber will change. Especially when the bamboo scrimber is used in outdoor environments in which temperature and humidity may dramatically change and there are ultraviolet radiations, the bamboo scrimber (for example, furniture and floors made by the bamboo scrimber) will crack, deform, or degum in a short term, and the size stability thereof is very poor. Moreover, the bamboo comprises more nutritive substances than the wood so that it is extremely easily corroded by decay fungi and mycetes in outdoor environments and has a very poor biological durability.